A/N: This is Cpt. Ritter wishing everyone a Merry Shipping Christmas, and a Happy New Year. SHEYLA CHRISTMAS PIECE.

The jumper was silent as John piloted it with skilled hands towards the Athosian settlement. The temperature had dropped considerably over the past few day, leading to an occasional snow storm over Atlantis.

Teyla sat in the seat next to him, eager to be back with her people for a short time. He'd agreed to take her and accepted her invitation to stay during the Athosian celebration and feast that would be happening that evening.

His eyes grew wide as he flew over the normally green mainland. There was a thick blanket of snow that covered everything. He instantly thought about a certain plump man flying to all the children delivering presents. He suddenly realized that it was Christmas time.

His watch said it was the 24th of December. It almost made him forget the wraith, forget the assignment. He wondered how the Athosians had come about having a feast on this night, the night before Christmas.

"Check it out." He said to Teyla, pointing at the snow.

"It was a rare blessing on Athos." Teyla replied. "We rarely had the Ancestor's tears fall and this is when we celebrate their memory."

"Ancestor's tears?" John asked, not making the connection.

"The white..." Teyla trailed off, realizing that he didn't know what Ancestor's tears were. She searched in her mind for a few moments before remembering what the expedition members called it. "Snow."
John nodded in understanding. "We have a celebration too on this day, well... more like tomorrow."

"Explain." Teyla asked, intrigued.

"On my planet we celebrate the birth of Jesus, who is supposedly the son of God, on December 25th. That's tomorrow by my watch."

"And what do you celebrate with?"

"Well, we get together with friends and family." He forced the painful memory that rose because of that statement down. "Then we exchange gifts and have a feast. For the young children there is Santa Claus, he's a chubby guy who delivers presents to all the children in the world in one night."

"That must be difficult."

John smiled. "There's no real man Santa Claus, but he symbolizes the spirit of Christmas. As for Jesus, son of God, you'd better ask Elizabeth about it."

"I see."

John landed the jumper just outside the settlement, which was covered in snow. "Speaking of snow, I have a great idea for some fun to do in the snow."

"Such as?" Teyla quirked an eyebrow.

"Making snowmen, snowball fights, stuff like that."

Teyla regarded him with a confused expression.

"Tell you what, I'll show you."

He grabbed his jacket and gloves from the seat behind him and opened the rear hatch. Immediately a cold burst of wind swept over him. He was glad he'd wore a thick shirt. He glanced back and noticed Teyla had quickly put her jacket on.

As he stepped out of the jumper, he packed a snowball into his gloved hands. He showed Teyla the packed ball of snow. "Normally, you'd throw it at somebody and then try and avoid getting hit back." He threw it against a tree.

He was shocked when an instant later, Teyla put a handful of snow down his jacket. He shivered and spun around to see her pretending to be innocent. He quickly packed two snowballs and tossed them at her.

She ducked behind the jumper to avoid the thrown snow and picked up more snow of her own. He readied one of his snowballs and slowly walked around the jumper. He was shocked to realize she wasn't there. It was then that he looked up, and got a snowball in the face.

Laughing, he wiped the snow from his face and threw the snowball at Teyla. He hit her square in the chest. She raised an eyebrow and leapt from the top of the jumper, throwing another snowball and running into the woods.

He picked up a snowball and chased after her. He hadn't had this much fun in years. He probably wouldn't have caught her, if she hadn't let him. In one sweeping motion she knocked his legs out from under him and pinned him to the ground.

Merely inches from him, their eyes met in a sudden realization of their positions. Teyla stayed in her position, not sure whether he'd let her move, or even if she wanted to.

It was John who spoke first. "Teyla, what's going on?" He said it slowly, making sure she understood that he knew exactly how they were positioned. She started to pull away, his arms pulled her back. "There's another custom on my world."

Teyla raised an eyebrow.

"If two people meet under mistletoe, then they should kiss."

"What is mistletoe?" There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

John pointed to the branch above her head. "That looks close enough." He didn't move, she had to take the first move. He wouldn't force this upon her, not like last time.

To him, the world seemed to slow to a crawl as she inched forward, until their lips met in a tender yet deep kiss that startled both of them. He could tell by the way her eyes snapped open before closing again as he leaned into it, trying to apologize for forcing this upon her earlier.

An eternity passed before they broke the kiss. John no longer felt the cold of snow, but he felt the warmth of a pulsing heart. He was sure, judging by the expression on Teyla's face that she felt the same.

A/N: I'm tempted to write more, what do you say, do you want more... like the feast and how they deal with the fact that they're both soaking wet.